In order to simplify the description, we shall limit ourselves, in the rest of this document, to describing the particular case where the radio communication device is a GSM radio communication terminal comprising a SIM card (for “Subscriber Identity Module”). Those skilled in the art will extend this information without difficulty to any other type of radio communication terminal.
Conventionally, a GSM radio communication terminal cannot communicate with the GSM network without a customised SIM card (i.e. without a SIM card with activated customisation data). Indeed, a SIM card is a module comprising all of the data concerning the subscriber, including an IMSI identity number (for “International Mobile Subscriber Identity”), an authentication key Ki, as well as algorithms associated for authenticating the subscriber by the GSM network.
During the customisation of radio communication terminals, it is desired in particular to reconcile at least some of the following objectives:                simplicity of the manipulations for activating the customisation, the user having to be able to carry out these operations with a reduced number of operations, and with each of these operations able to be the easiest possible;        security of the customisation data;        simplicity and low cost in the implementation.        
The current technique consists, for a user, in choosing an operator of a public land network (or “PLMN” for “Public Land Mobile Network”), purchasing a SIM card customised in one of the sales outlets of the chosen operator, then inserting the customised SIM card into a radio communication terminal. In this way, the radio communication terminal is customised and can access the network services (PLMN) of the chosen operator.
By way of example, the disadvantages of prior art are discussed hereinafter through the particular case where the GSM radio communication terminal is embedded in an apparatus for measuring data remotely, for example a water meter.
The inventors have observed that the aforementioned current technique has a certain number of disadvantages in certain situations, in particular in the context of a point-to-point mode application of the M2M type.
The effectiveness of this known technique is limited by the fact that the radio communication terminal, after customisation, does not always use the best radio resources (also called carrier or frequency beacons in what follows) which are available at the location where it is located.
Indeed, the user chooses an operator without knowing exactly the network quality (PLMN) of this operator at the location where the terminal will subsequently be used.
In the worst of cases, the radio communication terminal, which has already been customised by a user in order to work with a given operator, can even be placed in a geographical cell that is not covered by this given operator.
In addition, most of the actors in the M2M market now desire that the transmission and reception of machine data be faster and more reliable. The selection and the use of the best carrier available are becoming as such critical.
Another disadvantage of this known technique resides in the fact that it does not allow a company that would like to install millions of terminals (for example embedded in water meters) to optimise the choice of the operator (i.e. of the network) for each terminal.